A waterproof deck flooring system without caulking

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a waterproof, easy-to-install, easy to remove, easy to repair or replace, recyclable, flooring system. A substrate supports the floor, and planks are adhered to the substrate by a film sandwich, which can have an impermeable film and adhesive on both sides. The adhesive can be a pressure sensitive adhesive. This film sandwich can have the same width as the planks, or can be wider than the planks. The edges of two adjacent planks can share the same film sandwich strip so as to provide the longest adhered path for any water entering the slit formed by adjoining planks and exiting at the edge of any film-sandwich. Each side of the film sandwich may be coated with adhesives having different adhesive characteristics, i.e., different cohesive and adhesive strengths between the substrate and film and/or between the planks and the film.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/789,187, filed on Mar. 15, 2013. The entire teachings of the aboveapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Inasmuch as waterproof, marine duty flooring systems are utilized undersome of the most severe environmental conditions, such as rain, sunlightand temperature extremes, most of the background of this invention willdiscuss flooring systems that are designed primarily as marine flooring.Naturally, any extreme-duty-use-flooring can almost always be used inless demanding applications, including commercial and residential uses.For the purpose of reasonable brevity and clarity, discussions anddescriptions of this invention will emphasize marine applications butare applicable to other uses.

Typical marine deck coverings are wood plankings with paint or oilcoatings. The seams between the planks can be waterproofed by insertingcotton or other similar textile products that are embedded with wax orother oil-based products. In some cases, the flooring system can be madefrom coated canvas. Even aircraft carriers, with their enormous deckareas and high impact loads, have used wood as a deck covering.

For a century or more, teak decks have been considered the epitome of aneffective and aesthetically desirable decking for marine use. The mainvirtues of teak wood for marine decks, other than its aestheticcharacteristics, include its non-slip characteristics under dry and wetconditions and its exceptional durability compared to other woods, evenwhen left uncoated. Nowadays, teak decking has become extraordinarilyexpensive, and is primarily used on large, expensive yachts. Maintainingteak marine decks can require significant labor costs, even if only afew planks must be replaced and re-caulked or refurbished.

In the 1980s, cork planking and extruded plastic materials, such aspolyvinyl chloride (PVC), were introduced to replace teak decking. Tomake the cork and PVC deck materials look more like teak, the productswere cut and installed with similar dimensions as teak planks, typicallyapproximately two inches wide and approximately eight feet long. Thisplanking typically used half-lap joints (also referred to as rabbetjoints) along the length of both sides of each plank to acceptpolyurethane or similar caulking products. Caulking material is requiredfor teak decks, as well as the aforementioned cork and PVC decks, inorder to make the flooring waterproof. Often nowadays, and to allow foreasier installation, very accurate patterns of the deck area aresupplied to factories that assemble wider sections of teak, cork, or PVCyacht decking. These sections include polyurethane caulk lines, whichare not necessarily required for waterproofing since there are no jointsor separations of the wide plank surface beneath those caulk lines,except where one multi-plank deck section joins the adjacent multi-planksection that ultimately constitutes the full deck structure matching thesupplied pattern. Caulking at these half-lap joints requires sanding thehand laid caulk lines and a significant surrounding surface area toproduce a consistent smoothness and color on the whole deck.

Consequently, fiberglass has largely replaced wood, steel, and aluminumas a construction material for yachts. However, fiberglass lacks thenon-slip characteristics of teak. While this problem can be addressed byembossing walking surfaces, it is not as aesthetically pleasing anddesirable by consumers. Attempts to duplicate the appearance andperformance of teak decks using other materials have been developed andutilized with some success, but PVC in particular suffers fromadditional problems such as excessive weight, high surface temperaturesunder sunlight (impossible to walk on barefoot), as well as greatdifficulty in being refurbished to its original appearance because ofthe initial embossing or texturing.

A typical teak deck installation requires a solid underlying substrateonto which a teak plank can be both glued and screwed. Typically, thesurface of the substrate is epoxy coated for waterproofing, sealing,leveling or fairing the top surface of the substrate foundation, apracticed that is commonly followed in the marine industry and highvalue commercial and home installations. Recessed screw heads aresubsequently covered with wood plugs, which are glued and sanded flushwith the planks. The seams are typically waterproofed with a caulkingcompound, which can be a polyurethane product. Waterproofing the seamsrequires significant time and effort, and requires taping the seamedges, caulking the seams, waiting a day or longer for the caulk tocure, and slitting and sanding the raised caulking material to the levelof the planks and plugs. The finished teak deck is sometimes oiled tohelp retain its original color or enhance its durability. While teaklumber is expensive, the labor costs for installing teak can be five toten times more costly than the teak lumber costs.

With the introduction of cork, PVC, and similar products as lower costreplacements for teak decks, some of the processes of countersinkingscrew-heads and gluing and sanding bungs, have been eliminated. However,the basic procedure of spreading an epoxy or urethane adhesive on thesubstrate, carefully laying and taping (or adding weights to the planks)to hold the positions of the planks, waiting overnight or even days forthe adhesive to set, taping and caulking the seams, and cutting andsanding off the excess caulking material involves very significant laborcosts. Thus, while the installed price of a cork or PVC floor issomewhat lower than an installed teak floor, it is still high enoughthat the majority of yacht owners choose a painted surface with non-slipparticles spread onto the painted walking surfaces, over teak or teaklook-a-likes.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved waterproof deck flooringsystem that requires less manual labor to install. Furthermore, there isa need for an improved flooring system that is waterproof whileproviding the aesthetic characteristics associated with traditional teakdecking.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed herein is a waterproof, aesthetically pleasing, self-draining,easy to install, easy to remove, easy to repair or replace, recyclable,flooring system. The waterproof flooring includes a substrate forsupporting the floor, one or more first impermeable films having a lowersurface adhered to the upper surface of the substrate, and one or morefirst planks or tiles having a lower surface adhered to the uppersurface of the first impermeable film. The impermeable film can be thesame width as the plank, narrower than the plank, or wider than theplank. The adjacent impermeable films can overlap. A first impermeablefilm can be bent at its edge so as to adhere to at least a portion of aborder of a plank. The plank can be cork, tile, or any other preferablyflexible flooring material. One or more of the adhesives can be apressure sensitive adhesive, and the first impermeable film can be aplastic layer, such as a polyester film. The top edges of the planks canhave an edge radius of, e.g., approximately one-eighth of an inch. Oneor more second impermeable films can have a lower surface adhered to theupper surface of the first planks or tiles, and one or more secondplanks or tiles can have a lower surface adhered to the upper surface ofthe second impermeable film.

A method of installing a waterproof floor includes adhering a lowersurface of one or more impermeable films to an upper surface of asubstrate and adhering one or more first planks or tiles to the uppersurface of the one or more first impermeable films. The firstimpermeable film can be the same width as the plank, narrower than theplank, or wider than the plank. The adjacent first impermeable films canoverlap. A first impermeable film can be bent at its edge so as toadhere to at least a portion of the edge of one or more planks. Theplank can be cork, tile, or any other preferably flexible flooringmaterial. One or more of the adhesives can be a pressure sensitiveadhesive, and the first impermeable film can be a plastic layer, such asa polyester film. The top edges of the planks can have an edge radiusof, e.g., approximately one-eighth of an inch. The method can furtherinclude adhering a lower surface of one or more second impermeable filmsto the upper surface of the one or more first planks or tiles, andadhering one or more second planks or tiles to the upper surface of theone or more second impermeable films.

The waterproof flooring system disclosed herein provides numerousadvantages compared to traditional deck or floor construction.

The flooring provides superior waterproofing because the film sandwichdisrupts the flow of water between the edges of the planks to thesubstrate. The water leakage pathway of the waterproof floor issignificantly longer than the water leakage pathway in a typical teakdeck installation. For example, the water leakage pathway can be about2.5 inches (63.5 mm) long, whereas the water leakage pathway of atraditional deck is about 0.5 inches (12.7 mm). Optionally, the waterleakage pathways can be made many times longer by positioning the filmsandwiches so that they overlap or by using wider film sandwiches.

Some embodiments provide channels for water to drain, thereby reducingor eliminating standing water on the deck. In contrast, traditionalteak, cork, or PVC decks with caulked joints are inherently flatsurfaces without any localized drainage means and permit the formationof standing water. In other words, a traditional caulked deck does nothave grooves or other inherent means for draining water from its surfaceprior to the formation of standing water.

In certain embodiments, the invention provides a surface that is easierto walk on and reduces instances of tripping. All deck substrates havesome imperfections that preclude a perfectly flat substrate or aperfectly curved or cambered deck. For example, planks made of anyproduct have some tolerance specification to their thickness. Planks ortiles with varying thicknesses, even as small as twenty thousandths ofan inch (a half of a millimeter) can cause some people to trip whilewalking. Instances of tripping, due to imperfections in the substrate,planks, or both, can be reduced by providing highly rounded edge shapes.For example, providing an ⅛th inch radius along both edges of aone-quarter inch thick plank can greatly minimize the propensity to tripdue to height variations in the floor surface levels without requiringextreme leveling of the substrate surface or the floor afterinstallation.

The flooring system provides several desirable aesthetic improvement.The flooring system permits the use of planks or tiles having variouswidths and/or composition, particularly when the planks are cork, whileavoiding the necessity to caulk the floor, which previously has been anecessity for waterproofing the deck. Cork planks are more readilyavailable in a variety of widths. For example, cork planks can be 1 inch(25.4 mm) wide, which is useful for highly curved sections of a deck, 2inches (50.8 mm) wide, which is the typical width of teak deck planking,4 inches (101.6 mm) wide, which seems to be the most attractive corkplank for mid-size yachts, or 6 or 8 inches (152.4 to 203.2 mm) wide,which is particularly attractive on larger yachts. Teak, for example,are not readily available in 6 to 8 inch width planks. While varyingthis range of plank widths, there is a significant change in designutilizing different edge radii for the different width planks, whichaffect the resultant aesthetic “shadow” lines without affecting theutility or performances of either the water drainage channels, or,through “correcting” dimensional tolerance imperfections in thesubstrate or the planks, retaining the safety of tripping on the floorwithout the necessity of surface leveling of the floor afterinstallation.

The film sandwich of the flooring system is almost completely protectedagainst the adverse effects of foot traffic and weather conditions,including heat and cold, UV radiation, rain, and wind, since it isadhered to the bottom of the planks. In contrast, the caulk oftraditional flooring systems is exposed to both foot traffic andweather, which can and does cause separation and delamination of thecaulk from the edges of planks.

The film sandwich of the flooring system is also more protected againstthe adverse effects of expansion and/or contraction of the substrate,film sandwich, or planks. Temperature and/or moisture can cause thelayers to expand or contract according to their unique expansioncoefficient. Since all of the layers are substantially parallel, eachlayer moves a comparable distance in approximately parallel planes. Anystrain is mitigated by the large surface areas of the planks and thesubstrate held together by the film sandwich's two thin, flexibleadhesive layers. Additionally, the flexible nature of the film sandwichtends to accommodate differential expansion of the substrate and plankswithout cracking.

The flooring system is easier to install than other waterproof flooringsystems primarily because the individual plank seams do not have to becaulked and finished. Also, laying strips of the film sandwich onto adeck is easy, clean, repeatable, and without time constraints imposed bytrowling liquid or time- and temperature-sensitive epoxy or urethaneadhesives. While carpet or pre-coated pressure sensitive adhesive coatedplanks are similarly easy to install, they do not produce a waterproofmarine floor without incorporating the teachings of this invention.

The flooring is easier to repair or replace because individual plankscan be removed without the need to entirely replace the floor.Specifically, the adhesive strengths can be selected so that individualplanks can be removed from the flooring without contaminating either theplank or the substrate. Thus the planks can be removed free of adhesive,thereby permitting the planks to be recycled. The absence of anyresidual film sandwich on the planks and/or substrate is accomplished byutilizing adhesives with greater adherence to the plastic film than tothe plank and/or substrate. This removal and replacement process can beapproximately an order of magnitude less expensive than replacing a teakplank with epoxy or polyurethane adhesives plus the required caulking.

The flooring is less expensive than traditional flooring systems due toreduced labor and materials costs. Even given similar costs for plankingmaterials, the plastic film, even when coated on both sides, is about athird the cost of epoxy or polyurethane adhesives, with labor costs forapplying the adhesives on a substrate far exceeding the cost of the filmsandwich.

The flooring can be made from a sustainable and reusable products, suchas cork planks or tiles, vinyl tiles, or wood. Additionally, theflooring method is not limited to marine use, and can be used as a floorin a variety of different locations. For example, the flooring materialsare flexible enough to accommodate curvatures in the substrate withoutrequiring significant machining, wood working, or mechanical fasteners.Additionally, the planks or tiles are more readily removed and eitherreused or recycled if they are flexible enough so that they do not crackor otherwise shatter during removal.

Additionally, the flooring system provides for some exceptional thermaland acoustic performance characteristics, especially when cork planksare utilized. A cork deck is both quiet when walked on and provides apleasantly comfortable tactile experience when walking barefoot or shod,and provides a sensation of a nearly constant temperature, whether in awinter or summer environment. As a deck floor, it also providesexcellent insulation for any quarters located below the cork floor deck.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a edge view of a waterproofflooring system without the use of any caulking.

FIG. 2 is schematic illustration of an edge view of the waterproofflooring system of FIG. 1 illustrating an exploded view of thewaterproof flooring system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an edge view of a traditionalteak, cork, or PVC floor installation.

FIG. 4 is the schematic illustration of an edge view of the traditional,caulked teak, cork, or PVC floor installation of FIG. 3 illustrating anexploded view of the components.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of an edge view of a waterproofflooring system having more than one plank.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A description of example embodiments of the invention follows.

The above features and other details of the method and apparatus of theinvention will now be more particularly described with reference to theaccompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims. The same number indifferent figures represents the same item. The drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustratingembodiments of the present invention. It will be understood that theparticular embodiments of the invention are shown by way of illustrationand not as limitations of the invention. The principle features of thisinvention can be employed in various embodiments without departing fromthe scope of the invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, adjacent planks 10 are adhered to substrate 11via film sandwiches 12 and 13. Film sandwiches 12 can have the samewidth as planks 10, except that a border or shaped plank section mayrequire a wider, trimmed, and/or bent film sandwich 13. The verticalsection of film-sandwich 13 can be adhered to the edge of plank 10,and/or to any sidewall or barrier (not shown) to provide a waterproofbarrier adjacent to the laid plank floor. The film sandwiches 12 canalso be narrower or wider than the planks 10.

The planks 10 can be made of a variety of materials suitable for marinedecking, including teak, PVC, or cork. In a preferred embodiment, planks10 can be made of cork. Typically, composite cork consists of mixedsmall cork granules with a binder (often referred to as adhesive orglue). The binder can be an aliphatic polyurethane, which is very stableunder high UV conditions and readily bonds cork granules, often undersome pressure and temperature. Other binders include a variety of rubberand chemical formulations, such as neoprene, nitrile, ethylene propylenediene monomer (EPDM), and phenol formaldehyde.

Composite cork offers advantages over teak, PVC, and other similarmaterials. For example, cork has the lowest density of the threematerials. Additionally, a cork deck does not need to be as thick as ateak deck. For example, a traditional teak deck requires a three-quarterinch (19 mm) thick plank, while a cork plank can be one-quarter of aninch (6 mm) thick, especially if the cork deck is made waterproof withthe teachings disclosed herein. Since the density of teak is about threeand one half times greater than the density of cork and the thickness ofa teak plank is about three times that of a cork plank, a teak deckweighs about ten-and-one-half times more than a cork deck over any givensurface area. For typical 40 foot (12.2 meters) yachts, a teak deckcould easily weigh 300 pounds (136 kg), which could be replaced by acork deck weighing less than 30 pounds (13.6 kg). Similar to teak,composite cork planks provide a slip-resistant surface in both in wetand dry conditions. Additionally, composite cork is an exceptionallygood thermal barrier. Composite cork decks do not feel hot or coldunderfoot and provide significant thermal insulation from both warm andcold environments for quarters below a cork-decked roof. Suitable corkmaterials that have been used and/or tested as cork flooring planksinclude product numbers NC-710, P-46, NC-711, PE 1865/03 FH, NC-80,NRT94, 3D PVC, all from Amorim Cork Composites (Trevor, Wis. andPortugal).

Planks 10 can be cut in width to match typical teak deck planks. Teakplanks are usually narrow, typically under two inches (50.8 mm), so thatthey can be more easily curved in yacht installations. Preferably, corkplanks can range from 1 inch (25.4 mm) to eight inches (203.2 mm). Morepreferably, the planks can be four inches (101.6 mm) wide. In apreferred embodiment, the planks can be molded with a large edge radius14, e.g., a one-eighth inch (3.175 mm) radius. In some embodiments, theplanks can be 0.236 inches (6 mm) thick.

As shown in FIG. 1, the planks are mounted with the large edge radius 14on the top or walking surface of the floor, and the adjacent edges ofthe planks 10 contact each other. As described below, no caulking orother fillings are required in order to waterproof the floor. Typically,the film sandwich 12 is at least as wide as the planks 10. Preferably,the film sandwich 12 can be wider than the planks 10. The width of thefilm sandwich 12 depends on the desired amount of overlap (if any),among the film sandwiches 12.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of FIG. 1 that illustrates the film sandwich12 in greater detail. The film sandwich includes a first adhesive 21that is adhered to the upper surface of impermeable film 22 and a secondadhesive 23 that is adhered to the lower surface of impermeable film 22.While FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the first adhesive 21,impermeable film 22, and second adhesive 23 as separate layers, theentire film sandwich can be manufactured and supplied as one piece,i.e., an impermeable film with both sides adhesive coated thatconstitutes the film sandwich 12.

In order to create a waterproof floor system, a joint line 24 is locatedbetween adjacent planks 10 at or near the centerline 25 of the filmsandwich 12. The film sandwiches 12 can be laid down with edges justtouching the adjacent film sandwiches 12 (i.e., side-by-side). Thisrelative position of the planks 10 and film sandwich centerline 25maximizes the length 27 of the film sandwich 12 from the edge of anyplank 10 to either end. Consequently, any water entering a joint-line 24between adjacent planks 10 (which in this example is 4 inches (101.6 mm)wide), must penetrate about two inches (50.8 mm) along the filmsubstrate 21 before penetrating to the top of substrate 11. This lengthof water barrier is about five to ten times longer than a perfectlyadhered caulked seam in a conventional teak deck installation, whichwill be illustrated below. To further maximize the bonded adhesivelength 27, adjacent film sandwiches 12 may be laid down so that theiredges overlap in order to effectively form a continuous layers of filmsandwiches 12 and extend the continuous bonded length 27. The adjacentfilm sandwiches 12 may overlap by as much as 100%. With thisconstruction technique, water entering joint-line(s) 24 cannot penetrateto reach substrate 11, except at the exterior limits of the deck.

Preferably, the film sandwich 12 is wider than the planks 10 andoverlaps the edges of one or more adjacent film sandwiches 12 in orderto provide a continuous water barrier without any slits, cracks, orother openings, unless the film sandwiches 12 are physically penetrated.Consequently, the water path 26 changes from about half the width of asingle plank 10, which can be about two inches (50.8 mm), to about halfthe width of the whole floor installation, which can be many feet (ormeters). Additionally, a second (or more layers) of the film sandwich 12can be applied, in which case one layer of adhesive (either 21 or 23) onthe additional film sandwiches can be eliminated, inasmuch as adhesiveis already available from the first film sandwich 12 to adhere to theone side of the second film sandwich 12.

The film sandwich 12 is composed of a waterproof strip of flexibleimpermeable film 22. The impermeable film 22 can be a layer thatprevents a liquid, usually water, from passing through it. While it ispreferable that the impermeable film 22 completely prevents the passageof water, it is sufficient if the impermeable film 22 reduces the flowof water. It is also sufficient if the impermeable film 22 reduces theflow of water in only one direction. The impermeable film 22 is coatedon both sides with adhesive 21 and 23. Preferably, first and secondadhesives 21 and 23 can be a pressure sensitive adhesive. Theimpermeable film 22 can be a plastic film, such as a polyester film. Theimpermeable film 22 can typically be, e.g., from one-half-a-thousandthto six thousandths of an inch (0.0127 to 0.152 mm) thick. The first andsecond adhesives 21 and 23 can be the same adhesive, or they can bedifferent adhesives. For example, the adhesives can provide differentialbonding characteristics to the plank 10, impermeable film 22, and/orsubstrate 11. The first and second adhesives 21 and 23 can have athickness similar to the range of a typical film thickness. In contrastto water or solvent activated adhesives or contact adhesives, a pressuresensitive adhesive can reduce labor costs. Additionally, a pressuresensitive adhesive permits repeatability in the performance of theadhesive-bonded surfaces by minimizing or eliminating human errorsduring adhesive applications. Exemplary film sandwiches that have beenused experimentally are double sided, pressure sensitive adhesive tapesnumbers 654M-74-54 and 1711-80-54, both manufactured by AdchemCorporation (Riverhead, N.Y.). One of skill in the art will recognizethat while FIG. 2 illustrates a single impermeable film 22 havingadhesive 21 and 23 on both sides, one can use two or more layers of filmsandwiches 12, in which case only one film sandwich layer 12 requirestwo layers of adhesives 21 and 23. In other words, subsequentimpermeable layers 22 can require only a single adhesive layer to adherethe multiple impermeable layers 22. Naturally, one may still use a filmsandwich 12 having two adhesive layers 21 and 23 for all the layers offilm sandwiches 12 required.

With the large number of pressure sensitive adhesive formulae available,one of skill in the art can coat the film sandwich 12 with adhesivesthat have a strong adhesion to the impermeable layer of the filmsandwich and a lesser degree of adhesion to the plank 10 or thesubstrate 11. This allows the removal of the plank 10 from the filmsandwich 12 and the removal of the film sandwich 12 from the substrate11 to recycle the planks 10. The fact that the pressure sensitiveadhesive 21 and 23 exhibit this temporary tack does not mean that theplanks 10 do not adhere to the substrate well. The planks 10 can beadhered to the substrate 11 with assurance that under normalcircumstances, even under marine uses, the planks will not readilyseparate from the substrate. But when the time comes to remove theplanks for repair or recycling, a strong tug or two will cause thedelamination of the plank 10 from the film sandwich 12.

Preferably, the second adhesive 23 that contacts the substrate 11 has apull strength that is less than the pull strength of its adherence tothe impermeable film 22. Likewise, the first adhesive 21 that adheresthe impermeable film 22 to the flooring planks 10 can have an adhesivestrength to the floor planks 10 that is less than the adhesive strengthto the impermeable film 22. Providing different adhesive strengthsrelative to each of the four contact surfaces provides various benefitsalluded to previously. For example, a plank 10 can be lifted or pulledup for repair or proper disposal without contaminating the plank withadhesive, thereby permitting reuse or disposal. Additionally, the filmsandwich 12 can be lifted or pulled up for disposal, thereby leaving aclean substrate 11 to which new replacement planks 10 can be adhered.Individual planks 10 can be replaced or repaired as necessary withoutrequiring removal and repair of the entire floor. Thus the floor can berecycled by literally lifting it up, which is far easier and much lowerin cost than removing a typical marine deck, whether constructed ofteak, cork, or plastic tiles.

When the substrate 11 is substantially flat, the planks 10 can be anyplanks that can adhere to a substrate without mechanical fasteners. Forexample, the planks 10 can be made of any flexible flooring planks, suchas cork, PVC, or tile. Preferably, the planks 10 are made of cork, whichis a sustainable product that, if properly removed from a priorinstallation, can be reused. Cork planks in particular haveextraordinary thermal and acoustic properties, providing any livingquarters located below a cork deck serving as a ceiling component, as istypical in yachts, with excellent warm or cool quarters appropriate tothe weather. Additionally, walking on cork floors minimizes soundtransmitted through a ceiling or generated within a room with corkfloors.

To install the flooring, a lower surface of the film sandwich 12 isadhered to the upper surface of substrate 11. Typically, a second filmsandwich 12 is laid down parallel to the first film sandwich 12. Thesecond film sandwich 12 can be directly adjacent to the first filmsandwich 12, or the two film sandwiches can overlap, or there can be aspace separating the two film sandwiches 12. Next, a first plank 10 isadhered to the upper surface of the film sandwich 12 so that itscenterline coincides (approximately) with the edge seams of the two filmsandwiches 12. In other words, the plank 10 straddles the seam. When theadhesives 21 and 23 are pressure sensitive adhesives, pressure isapplied to secure together the planks 10, film sandwiches 12, andsubstrate 10. Subsequently, an additional film sandwich 12 is applied inclose proximity to (or even overlapping with) the seam of one of thepreviously laid film sandwiches 12. Another plank 10 is adhered, and theprocess is repeated until the floor is complete.

Construction usually begins in the middle of the floor and proceedsoutwards, as is done in starting a common floor installation for abalanced plank or tile layout. Prior to installation, the substrate isoptionally coated with a prime coat or a fairing coat of epoxy. Thesubstrate 11 can be wood, fiberglass, aluminum or steel, but any cleansubstrate to which the film sandwich adheres is acceptable. One of skillin the art will recognize that variations in this order may at times bedesirable or necessary to facilitate other objectives or requirements ofa marine or other deck or floor.

Since the planks 10 are placed one-at-a-time onto the film sandwiches12, the film sandwiches 12 can also be laid one-by-one, except for thefirst lay down when two or three film sandwiches 12 may beadvantageously positioned in place. Thus the planks 10 can then be putin place with a light touch and the first plank 10 can be accuratelyaligned. When necessary, one may lift and reposition the plank 10 if itwas not precisely placed. This lift-and-reset can readily be done forsome time provided the plank has not been heavily pressed down onto thepressure sensitive adhesive. Furthermore, when finally positioned, thepressure sensitive adhesive adhered plank cannot readily move or slideout of position as is common with liquid epoxy or urethane adhesives.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are schematic representations of a traditional, prior artmethod of waterproofing a deck with the use of caulk. Adjacent planks30, which are typically teak but can be cork or PVC, are adhered tosubstrate 31 via adhesive 32. Adhesive 32 is typically a two-part epoxyor polyurethane liquid adhesive that is troweled wet onto substrate 31.Adhesive 32 must be spread in a continuous layer under the planks 30 asthe planks 30 are laid, and the planks 30 must be accurately set intheir final positions before the adhesive 32 hardens. Consequently, theplanks 30 must be laid quickly, and it can be difficult to remove animproperly laid plank 30.

Caulk 33 in FIG. 4 is the crucial element preventing water penetrationbetween the top edges of the planks 30 through to adhesive 32 andultimately to the bottom of plank 30 and/or substrate 31 throughpossible breaks through to adhesive 32. Thus, the caulk 33 must remainflexible and adhered to both the adjacent planks 30 in order for theseam to remain waterproof. The potential and commonly experienced waterleakage pathways 34 are represented in the expanded drawing by dashedlines with an arrowhead. Screw 35 in FIG. 3 is used to mechanicallyfasten a teak plank 30 (and not cork or PVC planks), and is almostalways countersunk with a countersunk hole plugged with a wooden bung36.

In comparison to the planks 30 in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4, which representtypical teak planks used with caulking, the planks 10 in FIG. 1 and FIG.2 have significant radii (or bevels) 14. The edge radii 14 on planks 10can define channels on the surface of the floor to provide for theautomatic draining of water from the deck surface in order to eliminatestanding water or puddles. Additionally, the large edge radii 14 providea means for minimizing the transition from the height of one plank 10 toa slightly different height of an adjacent plank 10. These heightdifferences can be within the thickness tolerance of the planks 10and/or be caused by variations in height of the surface structure of thesubstrate 11. The large edge radii 14 can generate boundary and shadowlines that are highly attractive, particularly in large expanses offlooring. The dimensions of the edge radii can be approximately one halfthe thickness of the plank 10.

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of another embodiment that isvaluable for minimizing repair or replacement costs. For example, it canbe desirable or necessary to change a flooring prior to its normalend-of-life. Owners of yachts, cruise ships, hotels, high end buildings,and even well kept commercial or private homes may wish to refurbish orreplace a floor before the end-of-life requires such replacement. Notonly can replacing the flooring be expensive, but it can causeinconveniences and require downtime in order to complete the work.

Referring to FIG. 5, planks 10 can be adhered to underplanks 50 via filmsandwiches 51, which are substantially similar to film sandwiches 12. Asillustrated in FIG. 5, the planks 10 may be thinner than the planks 10of FIGS. 1 and 2. For example, planks 10 can be 0.118 inches (3 mm).Underplanks 50 can be made of any suitable material, including thosematerials suitable for planks 10. Preferably, underplanks 50 can becork. The underplanks 50 do not requires edge radii 14, but it can beincluded if desired. Underplanks 50 are adhered to substrate 11 via filmsandwiches 12. When film sandwiches 12 and film sandwiches 51 are eachlaid with overlapping edge joints, two impermeable waterproof layers areformed, one beneath the planks 10 and the other beneath underplanks 50.

The embodiment of FIG. 5 offers several additional advantages. Whendeciding to repair or replace the waterproof floor, one may remove someor all of the planks 10 (and film sandwich 51, if required) withoutcompromising the integrity of the waterproof floor. By repairing orreplace only planks 10 and not underplanks 50 (which literally haveexperienced no wear), the repair or replacement costs decrease sinceonly half the cork cost is required. Testing has shown that cork wear isso small when foot traffic is involved that a one-eighth inch thickplank of wood, cork or PVC will easily survive foot traffic in themillions of foot traffic steps. Additionally, underplanks 50 canliterally serve as a temporary floor with almost all the attributes ofthe original floor.

The embodiment of FIG. 5 can be installed similarly to thepreviously-described installation methods. After the film sandwich layer12 has been laid on the substrate 11, the underplanks 50 are laid andsecured to the film sandwich 12. Then, another film sandwich layer 51 isapplied, and the surface planks 10 are laid and secured.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described withreferences to examples and embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may bemade therein without departing from the scope of the inventionencompassed by the appended claims.

1. A waterproof flooring comprising: a) a substrate for supporting thefloor; b) one or more first impermeable films having a lower surfaceadhered to the upper surface of the substrate; and c) one or more firstplanks or tiles having a lower surface adhered to the upper surface ofthe first impermeable film, wherein the one or more first planks ortiles are formed of cork.
 2. The waterproof flooring system of claim 1,wherein the first impermeable film is approximately the same width asthe plank.
 3. The waterproof flooring system of claim 1, wherein thefirst impermeable film is wider than the plank.
 4. The waterproofflooring system of claim 1, wherein the first impermeable film isnarrower than the plank.
 5. The waterproof flooring system of claim 1,wherein adjacent first impermeable films overlap.
 6. The waterproofflooring system of claim 1, further comprising a bent first impermeablefilm along at least a portion of a border of a plank.
 7. (canceled) 8.The waterproof flooring system of claim 1, wherein one or more of theadhesives is a pressure sensitive adhesive.
 9. The waterproof flooringsystem of claim 1, wherein the first impermeable film is a plasticlayer.
 10. The waterproof flooring system of claim 9, wherein the firstimpermeable film is a polyester film.
 11. The waterproof flooring systemof claim 1, wherein the one or more of first planks have anapproximately one-eighth inch edge radius.
 12. The waterproof flooringsystem of claim 1, further comprising: a) one or more second impermeablefilms having a lower surface adhered to the upper surface of the firstplanks or tiles; and b) one or more second planks or tiles having alower surface adhered to the upper surface of the second impermeablefilms.
 13. A method of installing a waterproof floor, comprising: a)adhering a lower surface of one or more first impermeable films to anupper surface of a substrate; b) adhering one or more first planks ortiles to the upper surface of the one or more first impermeable films,wherein the one or more first planks or tiles are formed of cork. 14.The method of claim 13, wherein the first impermeable film is the samewidth as the plank.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the firstimpermeable film is wider than the plank.
 16. The method of claim 13,wherein the first impermeable film is narrower than the plank.
 17. Themethod of claim 13, wherein adjacent first impermeable films overlap.18. The method of claim 13, further comprising a bent first impermeablefilm along at least a portion of a border of a plank.
 19. (canceled) 20.The method of claim 13, wherein one or more of the adhesives is apressure sensitive adhesive.
 21. The method of claim 13, wherein thefirst impermeable film is a plastic layer.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein the first impermeable film is a polyester film.
 23. The methodof claim 13, wherein the one or more of first planks have anapproximately one-eighth inch edge radius.
 24. The method of claim 13,further comprising: a) adhering a lower surface of one or more secondimpermeable films to the upper surface of the one or more first planksor tiles; b) adhering one or more second planks or tiles to the uppersurface of the one or more second impermeable films.
 25. The waterproofflooring of claim 1, wherein the waterproof flooring is a marine deck.26. The method of claim 13, wherein the waterproof floor is a marinedeck.